The Miami Heat have played 19 of their first 31 games on the road to start the 2021-22 season.
Heat forward Max Strus sounded off on the difficulty, which has added to a list of constraints for the Heat this year.
“It has been a grind, for sure,” Strus said. “I feel like we haven’t been home at all all year, which kind of stinks.”
Strus, 25, is averaging a career-best 10.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game this season. He’s knocking down a whopping 41.1 percent of his shots from downtown.
Multiple Heat players have been out due to a variety of reasons.
The team lost rising star Caleb Martin to health and safety protocols. The forward is collecting a career-high 7.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game this season. He went for 28 points and eight rebounds in his last game before getting sidelined because of COVID-19.
Heat stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo have been sidelined due to injuries. Of course, they’re part of the heart and soul of the team.
Newcomer Kyle Lowry recently opened up on what some Heat players’ returns will mean and how people haven’t even seen the Heat at their full potential.
“It will be great,” Lowry said. “Unfortunately, Jimmy went down and came back and went back down. But that’s an important star that we’re missing. Then Caleb, he’s playing unbelievable. This time that he had to sit out with the protocols and all that stuff was unfortunate timing for him. But I think it will be great for us to get our teammates back and get back to an almost full group hopefully and go from there.”
Still, the Heat are surviving in the standings. The team holds an 18-13 record and is the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Heat will take on the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night.